1. Improving Customer Service:
Student Services Advisor Model
Houston Campus
November 5-7, 2014
Leslie Singleton, MBA
Manager, Student Services – Houston Campus Chamberlain College of Nursing
Yalixsa Custodio
Student Services Advisor II – Houston Campus Chamberlain College of Nursing
No notes - Introduction

2. Chamberlain College of Nursing History
Chamberlain College of Nursing has a 125-year history of preparing extraordinary nursing graduates
Our roots go back to the Deaconess tradition of 19th-century Europe. Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, studied at a Deaconess facility in Germany and later applied the concepts she learned to her nursing practice. In 1889, an evangelical pastor in St. Louis, Missouri, proposed establishing healthcare services based on the Deaconess model to address the needs of the local community. Those services evolved into the Deaconess School of Nursing and, later, the Deaconess College of Nursing.
Our 125-year history started in 19th-century Europe. In 1889, a pastor in St. Louis Missouri established the Deaconess School of Nursing to administer to the local community, which became the Deaconess College of Nursing.

3. Chamberlain College of Nursing History
In March 2005, DeVry Education Group acquired Deaconess. A term of the acquisition agreement required DeVry Education Group to change the name of the school. The chosen name, Chamberlain, is derived from the Middle English word "chaumberlein," which means "chief steward" – in recognition of the critical role of the nurse as the central steward and coordinator of patient care.
Fast-forward to March of 2005 when DeVry Education Group acquired Deaconess and required a name change. Chamberlain was chosen. Chamberlain, which means “chief steward”, embodies the role of the nurse as the patients health and overall care. This embodiment was also a reason for the Chief Steward Scholarship.

4. About Our Department
Student Services is comprised of three departments: Career Services, Registrar & Student Service Advisors (SSA)
The SSA position oversees all academic and financial planning for each student
The Student Services department has a slightly different role than more traditional universities. The department is comprised of Career Services, Registrar and Student Service Advisors or SSAs. The SSA’s main function is to advocate for the student and oversee the academic and financial planning for every student.

5. About Our Department Manager, Student Services
Student Services Coordinator
Registrar
Career Services Advisor
Student Services Supervisor
Student Services Advisors

6. About Our Department
Centralization of processes allows the team to focus on students and not outside duties
VA Certifications
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
Financial Aid processing: awarding, disbursements, credit balances
Transcript evaluations
In addition, many of our practices are centralized, such as VA certifications, ADA, financial aid processing and transfer credit evaluations which allows the advisor to focus on the student and not spend the time on the many facets of processing.

7. About Our Program Accelerated courses Online & On-site options
Eight-week courses
Conveniently provides flexibility for our student population
Two sessions per semester
Liberal Arts & Sciences offered in both formats
Three semesters per year
Certain nursing courses are available online
Chamberlain is a trimester school with semester starts in January, May and September. Within each 16-week semester are two, 8-week sessions. This model allows students to earn a Bachelor’s degree in as few as 3 years as opposed to 4 years. This fits the many different lifestyles of our students including on-campus, online and hybrid courses.

8. Student Lifecycle Admission Alumni Enrollment Current Student
Graduation
Alumni
Students go through an admissions process, to acceptance, to enrollment, becoming a current student until graduation. Their involvement doesn’t end with graduation. All students are automatic members in the alumni association with lifetime access to assistance.

9. Admission
Meet with prospective student to answer financial aid questions
Provide academic and financial aid advisement to newly accepted students including FAFSA, curriculum plan, portal navigation and college setup
Follow-up with each new student weekly until registered and bi-weekly until classes start
Once financial aid process has been completed, register student for courses discussed in pre-enrollment meeting
Ensure students are aware of academic policies
Participate in Open Houses and New Student Orientation
The SSA role in the admissions process is quite detailed. Applicants have the opportunity to meet with an SSA prior to even applying for basic financial aid information. Once the student is accepted, he/she sits down with an SSA for a pre-enrollment appointment. During these appointments, students are given detailed information of transfer credit awarded, a plan of study, a detailed breakdown of all fees and financial aid, the student portal and how to set things up. The SSA registers all new students for their first session courses.

10. Enrollment
Review each individual student account to ensure accounts are complete
Meet individually with students unable to register due to holds such as clinical, missing documents and financial aid
Meet with students to go over curriculum changes due to course incompletion, failure or withdrawal
Contact all unregistered students to ensure course registration before the beginning of the term
During open enrollment periods, SSAs contact or meet with students that may have holds and cannot register. They also determine what course changes need to be completed because of withdrawal or failure and how that can change the student’s curriculum plan. The advisors also facilitate any appeals that the student may need to complete.

11. Enrollment
Responsible for checking grade reports to verify each student has met prerequisite requirements
Outreach to students whom did not meet prerequisite requirements
Use Registrar dismissal report to reach out to all students to notify them of their status
Collect appeal paperwork and submit for approval

12. Current Student
Review all accounts throughout the term to ensure they are not missing documents and that they have sufficient funding to cover their balances
Meet with students regarding the issues on a daily basis
Review academic histories to verify that students are taking the appropriate classes and meet with students accordingly
Throughout the session, SSAs review student accounts for grade-level increases, private and PLUS loan renewals and helping students find additional funding if needed. They also facilitate communication needed for attendance issues and many other student issues that may arise during the session.

13. Current Student
Monitor the Salesforce system as it is the preferred method of communication with students
Meet with distraught students referred from online or onsite faculty
Contact students when they are underperforming to discuss options
Responsible for staying current on all state and federal changes to be able to effectively advise a student
Students can contact their advisor through help.chamberlain.edu which is an system that allows for a history of all written communication between the advisor and the student.

14. Graduation
Verify that each graduate has met all academic requirements for graduation
Monitor balance to ensure each graduate is paid-in-full by the ceremony
Ensure students are aware of Direct Stafford Loan balances, answer Stafford Loan repayment questions, make students aware of mandatory exit counseling
We do this at GradTrack. An event each session for upcoming completers that gives each student a synopsis of their loans to date.
In conjunction with the Registrar, the SSA verifies that all requirements have been met before a student can walk in the graduation ceremony. This includes academic requirements and account balances or issues. During the GradTrack event, students receive, in writing, a breakdown of loans from their program, NSLDS information for details about their loans and information about exit counseling.

15. Student Caseload
Each campus tries to keep a caseload of no more than 130 students per advisor
Currently with our campus approximately students, each advisor has about 130 students
The students are assigned to the advisors by cohort
This may sound like a lot of work for one person or it may sound like not much as the SSAs only have students each. This model is beneficial as a whole because the workload of academic and financial aid advising is manageable for this number of students. Some other schools do have advisors with students they are responsible for but generally that is just for one type of advising, not both.

16. Benefits to SSA Model Combined Academic & Financial Advising
“One-Stop Shop”
If a student wants to drop a course, the same person will be able to explain the academic and financial implications at one time instead of having to locate multiple departments
All attempts are made to keep the student with the same advisor for the duration he/she is in our program, which leads to a solid foundation for the student-advisor relationship
Not only does this model benefit the school it benefits the student. As a “one-stop shop” for the student, he/she is able to get academic and financial answer in one appointment instead of finding different departments potentially in different buildings depending on how large the campus may be. If a student needs to drop a course, he/she will know the academic and financial implications of that action. With our alpha split, we try to keep students with the same advisor throughout their program. This benefits the student by growing the relationship between themselves and the advisor for a solid connection to the program and the school.

17. Benefits to SSA Model Streamlined Communications
Customer Relationship Management system used by every department within Chamberlain
Financial planning and academic advising
Career Care system
Keeping one advisor for each student allows for consistent communication so the advisor is informed regarding academic, financial, or personal issues. This consistent communication aids in retention because the advisor knows the background of a student’s unique situation allowing for solution-based resolutions to keep students in the program until completion and vested after graduation.
Our comprehensive approach to financial planning year over year helps the students plan accordingly to be able to anticipate any financial issues and keep them persisting in our program until completion.
The Customer Relations Management system used by every department within Chamberlain.

18. Questions?